All you can find
by esentrik
Summary: Response to a rqfic I'll eventually turn into a real story. Ranger finds out that some of the smallest prizes come in very small packages.
1. Curiosity

Author: Esentrik

Challenge: #62- Curiosity

Spoiler: Nine-ish

Rating: Pg

Note: This idea had been in my head for a while, and now I'm finally getting it out here. I was going to make it a new story on once I got a few of my other stories done.

I heard a baby crying. Alone in my apartment building, living around old people living off their Social Security checks, there weren't a lot of babies to be crying.

Curiosity got the better of my, and I quietly slid from underneath my sheets and looked out the window. The crying was from outside, and I had my window open to let in the nice Trenton breeze. No wonder I woke up.

Standing in the parking lot was a man, in the darkness I couldn't figure out who it was. I closed my window, figuring a new family had moved in.

But I was wrong. Really wrong.

I fell asleep easier, and the cries subsided. I pulled my comforter over my head. I heard my lock tumble, and my chain swing free. Only one man was capable of doing this: Ranger.

I sat up to wait for him. I usually did this when he stopped by, which was now more frequent since Morelli had gotten tired of waiting and moved to Boston.

Ranger must have just gotten in. He was doing a favor for Vinnie and flew to Phoenix, Arizona to pick up a skip in Rocky Point.

I heard his boots hit the floor, and then the clatter of his gun belt dropping. I swung my feet over the bed and sat up. A moment later, his figure stood in the doorway.

Something was wrong. My room was dark, and he was blocking the little light from the kitchen that kept Rex company. He looked like he was cuddling something, though.

"Hi."

"Hey," He sighed, sounding awfully tired.

"How was the trip?" I asked, and Ranger came closer, letting in some light. He was definably holding something.

"Fine." He sat on the bed, next to me, and I caught a glimpse of a tiny little set of fingers, a tiny whisp of hair. A miniscule nose. OHMIGOD! Ranger had a baby.

I didn't say anything for a while. I was trying to figure things out. Was there someone else in his life, and that was why he didn't do relationships? Was I apart of some sick love triangle?

"Babe." He said softly.

"Huh?" I looked up out of my train of thought.

"Someone left her at the airport in Phoenix." Ranger informed me.

"Oh." I took another peek at the baby in his arms.

Two tiny hands, with ten tiny fingers. A few little baby hairs poked out of the tiny little hat that was covering her head. Her face was blank, like Ranger's was when you asked him something personal.

"What are you going to do?" I asked, tying hard not to reach for her. At times like these, my maternal instincts flew.

"Take care of her until CPS can find a better home. There so flocked this time of year, the lady over the phone told me it could be months until they can find a home for her." I hadn't noticed, but Ranger was looking down at the baby too.

"I'm curious. Does she have a name?" I asked and scooted closer.

"Melanie. It was pinned to the blanket." Ranger played with a little tag that said, MELANIE in scratchy handwriting.

As if on cue, her eyes fluttered open. She didn't fuss, just stared back at Ranger and I. My heart clenched. Someone had left her.

"Are you sure someone left her there? Maybe someone got up to go to the bathroom and forgot the baby?" I said.

Ranger reached into the pocket of his jacket. "Pretty sure someone left her."

He passed me a note, written on an index card with the same scratchy handwriting. It read: "I'm not ready to be a parent yet. I hope you take good care of her. Her name is on the tag."

I looked at Ranger. He looked back. Then the baby burped. And I realized I was in for the ride of my life. Ranger hadn't asked me to be surrogate mom, but I assumed it was coming.

"I'm curious, again."

"Shoot." Ranger said and unwrapped and wrapped the baby again in his black SWAT sweatshirt she'd been wrapped in when he got here.

"How are you going to take care of her? You have a crazy job, and as far as I'm concerned, your life would lend itself to a baby well." I shifted so I could see him better.

"I was planning to ask you... if you'd help. I figured I'd first spend the night. I'm tired. If I blew it, I'd have to drive all the way home."

The baby's face got scrunched up, and she began to cry. It wasn't as loud as in the parking lot, but she was unhappy.

"I can get her." I said. "Go to sleep."

"She wasn't hungry a minute ago, before I came up here. There's a bottle in the bag you can warm up to her." Ranger said and laid back on the bed.

"Ok." I said and left the room.

There was a bottle, just like he said there would be, on top of a stack of diapers. I picked it up and offered it to her. She pushed it back out with her tongue after a second.

I put it in the microwave for only a few seconds, rocking the baby slowly as the microwave heated. It dinged loudly when it was done, which made the baby jump.

I offered her the warm bottle, and she accepted it. I traced my route back to my bedroom where Ranger was tucked into my bed. He pillowed his head under a bent elbow, the other arm loosely at his side. And he was asleep.

I sat on the empty space on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. I laid Melanie on my bent knee and she sucked on the bottle, eventually sucking herself to sleep.

Where was she going to sleep? Between us, I supposed because she didn't have a crib or anything. Nothing but a stuffed toy was left from Valerie's stay. Gently, I lifted the baby, putting her on her back beside Ranger.

His hand moved and covered her tiny body. "Night." He mumbled.

"Night." I said and scooted down under the covers.

They say that curiosity killed the cat. Well, it was about to kill again...


	2. New Beginning

Author: Esentrik0  
Challenge #64- New Beginning  
Rating- PG13, language as usual  
Spoiler- You would have had to have read my last fic, in the #62th challenge folder. I decided to bring back Steph, Ranger and the baby - 

We woke up a mere four hours later, just as the Trenton sun was rising. Ranger was up and out of the room with the baby before my morning brain could register what had happened. 

Ranger. Baby. Mother. 

I slipped out from under the covers, scuffling into the living room following Ranger. He was making soft cooing noises at the baby, as the baby wiggled her bare butt. 

Batman was Superdad. 

He pulled the tabs on the diaper tight and pressed them firmly to it. He snapped the three snappies, and held the baby up, her toes skimming the couch on which she'd been changed on. 

She made a cooing noise, mimicking Ranger's from a second ago. It had never dawned on me just how Dad Ranger was. He had a nine year old somewhere in Miami he'd done this with. He knew what he was doing. 

Me, on the other hand, had tried my hardest to avoid babies. In my opinion, they were icky. They sat in their poop and they usually had canned carrots running down their chin. I was about as much mother material as Bob was human. 

Ranger turned, balancing on the balls of his feet in a squatting position. He smiled at me, his latino eyes sparkling in the early morning sun. 

I took a few easy steps and braced myself on the back of a chair. "Look's like she wanted an early start." Ranger said, his attention turning back to the baby. 

It was nearly five thirty in the morning, an inhuman hour for someone to be up. Yet, I was awake. 

"Yup." I said and slowly pushed myself off the chair back and into the kitchen for coffee. 

Ranger slipped in behind me, my kitchen suddenly feeling cramped. He grabbed a glass from the counter above me and filled it with tap water. "Coffee?" I offered. 

"A little." He said, throwing back the water glass and setting it empty on the counter. 

This was quite a step for Ranger's usualy healthy way. Morning, noon and night, all he ate was fruit and salad. And maybe chicken. I had never once seen him eat something with grease on it. 

The coffee was done and I poured two mugs, one less than the other. I brought them both out to the living room again, where the baby laid on her stomach in a little mountain of toys. With daddy watching from the couch. 

"Babe." Ranger's voice pulled me back into the present. 

"Hmmm?" I hummed over my coffee mug. 

"We need to talk. Just for a minute or two." 

"Good talk or bad talk?" I'd heard those words too many times. 

"Probably a good talk. Depends on where you're comming at it from." Ranger explained, his lips twitching in a hint of a smile. 

"Ok." I turned to face him on the couch, sitting cross-legged. 

"I said that my life doesn't lend itself to relationships." I nodded in approval and he continued. "It still doesn't, but I wasn't expecting this. And I need to try. To be daddy and boyfriend and a normal guy." 

"I realize my macho Army guy shit won't cut it anymore. I've screwed up so much, I'm beginning to forget who I am." 

"Ranger..." I started. "You're Ricardo Carlos Manoso. Second generation Cuban-American who served in the National Special Services. You have a sucessful buisness and a scary platoon of friends. And I've always been able to count on you." My voice was steady, and his face was blank. 

The baby cooed, and Ranger smiled showing a row of teeth. 

"Babe, I was more than that. I was a good student until I dropped out. I had a wife and a daughter, which I lost due to my stupidity. I've killed more innocent people than nesessary and I've screwed up from there. It's the guy you never knew that I want to be again." I could hear a strain to his voice, a longing. 

"Ranger, we've all had problems. Up until recently, I was a discount underwear buyer who had a sex-happy husband, now an ex. I get shot at for a living. I have two relationships with two completely different men, and I am so damned confused sometimes I can't see straight. But, I learn from my past and I refuse to dwell on it. I don't want to be who I was, that's impossible. Because, if I were, I would make the same mistakes all over again." 

He stayed silent for a long time, his attention averted to the baby, who was wiggling helplessly and not going anywhere on the rug. 

"I think...I think we should start over." He stated quietly. 

"Like, from the beginning?" 

He faced me, a slight grin spread across his face. "Yes. From the day we met. Forget the past, both of out mistakes. And start now." He paused and again glanced at the baby. "For her." 

"For her." I whispered. 

The room was quiet now with the exception of the Melanie's soft coos and gurgles. Up until the lock tumbled on my front door and a familiar shaggy figure bounded through it. 

I sprung into action, grabbing the baby before Bob could. I cradled her against my shoulder, high away from Bob. 

"Babe, I don't think he can hurt her." Ranger said and took the baby from me, holding her at chest level. 

He was right. Bob could only hurt her if he fell asleep on her. The person who let Bob in took a step through the door. His brown hair fell into his eyes, his face was sporting a goatee that was about two days old. I smelled the cologne, and I knew who it was before he steeped through the door. And he brought doughnuts. 

"Hey Cupcake," He said and smiled happily. 

That's when he saw Ranger. Or, Ranger in an undershirt and boxers. Morelli's jaw line tightened and his eyes narrowed. 

"Can I see you, outside, for am minute?" He asked me and sharply walked out the door, leaving it open for me. 

I made a second of eye contact with Ranger, enough to say what I needed said. "I hadn't planned on him." Was silently exchanged. 

"What's is with him?" Morelli asked sharply, his voice like the blade of a knife. 

"He spent the night." I figured it was not a good time to lie. 

"I can see that. After all those long battles we've had, you're the one to actually cheat on me." Morelli said, his voice calm but his face suggested otherwise. 

"I didn't." I stammered. 

"Like hell you didn't." Morelli turned and leaned his back against the wall with his arms folded across his chest. He closed his eyes and his head rolled back. 

From inside, I could hear the baby cry. Morelli opened an eye. He was close enough to know just where the screams were comming from. 

"Something you'd like to share, Cupcake." The way he said it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. 

"Someone left Melanie at the airport." 

"And exactly why is she in your apartent?" 

"Joe," I said in a pleading voice. "What would you do if you found a baby stranded at an airport?" 

"I'd leave her for security!" Joe's voice boomed. 

I resisted the urge to cry. I couldn't show him that he was getting to me. "Ranger's all she's got. He checked with CPA. No missing persons with Mel's description." 

"Then why is she your problem. It's Ranger this, Ranger that. If he's all she has, why is he here?" 

"Because he can't take care of a baby by himself. He can't be two places at once." 

"And you can't lead two lives. I can't keep doing this. You're going to have to choose. Ranger or me. That's it cupcake. You can't have both." 

"Why is he such a threat to you?" I whispered. 

Joe pushed off the wall and walked by me, whispering in my ear. "Because he can do things for you I can't." 

I watched his body walk down the corridor, and step into the elevator. The doors slid closed and he was gone. 

Instinctivley, he known I'd chosen Ranger. And that was that. With a sniff, I turned back into my apartment.

(If your on disregard this message...) As I had mentioned on the boards, I was thinking, err, not thinking but suggesting that this story be kinda a group project. I'll be posting this on and I would continue to post anything written with these three in it. I know it sounds kinda tacky, but I figured I'd throw it out there. 


	3. Argument

Author: Esentrik0  
Challenge: #65-Argument  
Note: This is the third story of a set. To get the first two, and this one and many more to come, you can find them on It's titled "All You Can Find."

All You Can Find- Third Installment

I figured that now that our secret was out, it would spread like a wildfire. I sat on the couch, next to Ranger, in total silence. I was waiting for the phone to ring. I didn't know exactly what he was doing.

I didn't mention that I had made a choice. I was pretty sure Ranger assumed that was the case. He saw the tears that sat in my eyes, not quite ready to fall. He held me in a tight hug until I felt better.

Melanie was content sucking on her foot. Bob had settled down, and laid on the rug beside the baby stuff. I was still afraid she's get hair in her mouth and choke, but she seemed to notice his presence and was happy.

The phone rang, and with a sigh, I stood up and walked over to it. I answered on the second ring. "What is all this about you and that Cuban man and a b-a-b-y!"

I held the phone a few inches from my ear. "Mom, calm down."

"I will most certainly not calm down. If anything, I should have heard it from you. Not Mrs. Greenburg." How old Mrs. Greenburg found out was a mystery. She already had a casket on backorder, and a headstone picked out. I wasn't trying to be mean, but she was on the edge of death.

"I've been busy." I said and cut off a sphew of ranting comments that were shot my way.

"That's not an excuse to hide a baby from me. How are you even going to care for her? I don't doubt that your bounty hunter friend can care for a child, but you Stephanie?"

"Jeez, what a vote of confidence." I muttered, and she heard me.

"I love you kiddo, I really do. But you can't take care of a baby. You can hardly even care for yourself." She commented. "Not as a bounty hunter, atleast."

"What's wrong about being a bounty hunter?" I replied, my voice getting high and insulted.

"Nothing, if you're prepared for the job. But my baby girl has no right working in a mans world where she gets shot at."

"I don't get shot at!"

"Not everyday, but you have been shot before. And kidnapped. And beaten. And humiliated. Honestly, have you had a car for more than a couple of days?" She asked sympathetically.

"You don't understand mom. I don't know why you can't seem to get it. I like my job. It has bad points, and it's sometimes a pain and I don't want to wake up in the morning, but I still like it." I sighed. "I really don't want to box tampons for the rest of my life."

A sigh came over the other end of the line. "It's your life, and I have no right to tell you how to live it. If you wish to live in sin with that Cuban boy and his baby, then so be it."

"Mom." I said, my voice racking. I had disapointed her, and I knew it.

"No...It's ok baby. Just let me tell you this." There was a long pause, filled by soft breathing. "Take care of yourself. Don't let yourself be walked on."

I was about to say something, but I heard a soft click. Clearly, she was done.

I felt his breath on the back of my neck. I leaned back, hitting his chest. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I hung up the phone. It was...cozy... standing in the kitchen, my head on his chest listening to his heart pound.

Something triggered in my head. This wasn't normal for Ranger. Actually, since about two o'clock this morning, he hadn't been normal.

"Have I ever told you that these highlights are cute?" He whispered in my ear.

"No." I held back a chuckle.

"They're cute. Natural. Soft. Sexy." He whispered in a suductive tone.

"Don't you need to go to work." I did chuckle this time.

"Yeah, but I could be late."

"Go." I said and gave him a hard shove towards the door.

This is the third one in a set of god knows how many. I will probably keep playing off these until I hit a complete dead in. If this is hard for you, and you keep forgetting what happened last (which happens, especially if you read three more before it and two after it...) I have posted them all up in I'll post them at the same time I post them here, so you won't be missing much.

Hope you're having as much fun reading these as I am trying to fit the challenge. Esentrik


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